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Feb. 2, 2007
Keeping the peace at home
Kenney vows to make over our multicultural programs.
RON FRIEDMAN
Canadians don't want our country to import the political divisions
that exist abroad, according to Secretary of State in charge of
Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity Jason Kenney.
Kenney met with a group of reporters from ethnic and cultural community
publications last Saturday on the occasion of his first visit to
the West Coast since being assigned to his new cabinet position
Jan. 4. The Conservative MP for Calgary Southeast was previously
parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Kenney said his appointment reflected Harper's "interest and
priority in the diversity of Canada's cultural communities and his
desire to make sure that our government is providing services and
programs that are relevant to the needs of new Canadians and cultural
communities."
Kenney launched the address by recounting the government's efforts
toward multicultural issues. "Our government has already done
a lot by cutting in half the right of landing fee, by increasing
immigrant settlement funding by $307 million and by creating an
agency for recognition of foreign credentials," he said. "We
also have done a lot of things to keep our word and recognize and
correct past injustices, such as the PM's historic apology for the
Chinese head-tax."
He then took the opportunity to rebut recent allegations by opposition
member and former secretary of state for multiculturalism Raymond
Chan (the Liberal MP for Richmond), who accused the Conservative
government of cutting back on hundreds of millions of dollars towards
multiculturalism programs in a statement Jan. 17. Kenney argued
that Chan lied to Canadians in order to reduce pressure on himself
caused by his refusal to offer head-tax redress and his "flip-flop
on the [gay] marriage issue."
Kenney noted the Conservative government's long-standing commitment
to ethnic minorities. "The Conservative party itself has a
phenomenally good track record when it comes to being open to new
Canadians and the diversity of this country," he said. He went
on to list the representatives of various cultural communities who
took office under the Conservative government. "I'm looking
forward to telling that story to new Canadians," said the minister.
After his initial address, Kenney took questions from the representatives
of six media outlets. The Jewish Independent was the only
non-Chinese publication present.
When Kenney was asked about existing and rising tensions between
various communities caused by the spilling over of regional conflicts
outside of Canada into the Canadian political sphere, he replied,
"When people come to this country, they are free to hold and
express opinions, but they should do so in a respectful manner.
We would encourage all Canadians to avoid intemperate conflicts
– particularly on the issues that come from overseas conflicts
like the Middle East conflict."
Kenney expressed the Conservatives' stance towards the Israeli-Palestinian
dispute by saying that the government supports the basic values
of democracy and human rights and that the party is concerned about
those organizations, like Hamas and Hezbollah, that are explicitly
dedicated to the elimination of the Jewish state.
"We support the right of Israel to exist within secure borders,
but we also support the creation of a democratic Palestinian state,"
said Kenney. "We think that is a responsible foreign policy
approach. We understand that not all Canadians will agree with every
detail of our foreign policy, but we would ask them to express their
difference in a respectful and civil fashion. Thankfully, in this
country, we don't throw bombs at one another; we fill in ballots.
This government won a mandate in the last election with a very clear
foreign policy direction, a more principled foreign policy –
and we are going to continue in that direction."
Kenney was also asked about the acknowledgement of professional
credentials for new immigrants.
"We hope to have something to announce this spring," he
responded. "It is a difficult issue, because it is mainly an
issue of provincial, rather than federal, jurisdiction and there
are more than 400 professional agencies, each of which has control
over recognition of their own professions in their respective provinces.
There is not going to be a blanket solution because some professional
agencies will, for whatever reasons, not co-operate."
Kenney said he would be making it a priority to review current multiculturalism
programs and ensure their relevance to the current day needs of
immigrants and cultural communities.
"Some of these programs were designed in the 1970s, and the
country has changed a lot since then," he observed. "My
inclination is that we should be doing less folkloric food and festival
aspects and focus more on the concrete needs of newcomers, including
immigrant settlement and focus on equality of opportunity."
Following the meeting, Kenney's spokesperson assured the Jewish
Independent that, in future, the secretary of state would try
not to schedule multicultural events on Saturdays, out of respect
for the Jewish holy day and that Kenney's parliamentary commitments
in Ottawa were what necessitated this scheduling of the meeting.
Ron Friedman is a student in the master's journalism program
at the University of British Columbia.
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